1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector which is used for electrically connecting a memory card to circuit boards of various electronic apparatuses, and which has a function of preventing erroneous insertion of a card.
2. Explanation of Related Art
In a conventional card connector, mechanical means for preventing erroneous insertion of a card to a card attachment position of a slot in a posture different from a normal insertion posture is known. Such means is configured in the following manner. A stopper which is formed by a plate spring as a separate part is attached to a housing in a cantilevered manner, or a stopper plate is cut and raised in a cantilevered manner from a sheet metal cover which cooperates with a resin body to form a housing. A free end of the stopper or the stopper plate butts against an insertion end face of a card which is erroneously inserted in a posture different from a normal insertion posture, thereby preventing the card from being inserted to an card attachment position (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open Nos. 10-91729 and 10-187896).
In such conventional erroneous insertion preventing means, however, there is a possibility that, when an excessive pushing force is applied to a card, the card is damaged by the metal-made free end of the stopper or the stopper plate. In some cases, there is a possibility that a memory card is pierced with the free end of the stopper or the stopper plate and the card cannot be ejected. These troubles are more prominent as miniaturization of a card is further advancing.
By contrast, another configuration may be employed in which a part of the resin body of a housing is bulged to form a butting surface against which an insertion end face of a card that is erroneously inserted in a posture different from a normal insertion posture is to butt, thereby preventing the card from being inserted to a card attachment position. The configuration can solve the above-discussed problems, but the butting surface is hardly provided with sufficient breaking strength. The configuration has other drawbacks such as that the resin-to-resin contact causes the card to slip and escape from the butting surface, and hence a sufficient erroneous card insertion preventing performance is hardly obtained.